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-M. B. BEN-SLOW. APPARATUS FOR MAKING NITROUS 0x11), 620. No. 67,907.

Patented Au .'20, 1867.

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M. B; REN SLOW, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS,ASSIGNORTO HIMSELF 1 AND FLAYIUS SEARLE, ()F SAMEPL'AGE Letters Patent No. 67,907, dated'Augfust 20, 1867.

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TO ALL WHOM- IT MAY CONCERN:

Be it known-,that I, M. B. RENSLOW, of Springfield, in the county of Hamp'den, and (louimonwealthiof Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Apparatus for Making Nitrous Qxide and other Gases; and I'do hereby'declare that the following is a-full, clear, and enact description thereof, reference being bad to the accompanyingdrawings, making a part of this specification, and to the letters of reference'marked thereon, in which- I v i Figure lrepresents theapparatus setup for use.

Figure Zis a plan view of my improved apparatus. V

Figure 3 is a vertical section through line N O of fig. 1.-

-The nature of'niy invention consists in arranging a receiver or receptacle for nitrous oxide or other gas, with a yariable orifice or outletfor the gas from said receiver, so that as it is manufactured the heat employed to manufacture said gas shallbe controlled or regulated by the flow of said gas through such orifice, either with or without the assistance of springs or weights.

I To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and mode of operation. i

In the drawings, a represents the receiver or receptacle for the gas, which may be of any desired form and of any desired capacity,- a cylindrical 'form being perhaps the best adapted, practically, for use. To the sides of thereceiver a are secured the pieces 12b in an upright position, to the top of which is secured the cross-bar c, connecting the two pieces 6 b in a firm manner. The bar dis attached to the two pieces 6 and b by means of-the, two screws H passing through the slots near eachendoif the hard in such manner that the 'bar'dzinay'j move freely in the direction of its length upon the screws Z Z. The middle of the bar d is made wider than the 'main portion, in which wide part ismade the double inclined slot u, commencing near the top of said wide part at Y," and extending downward, at an inclination, to a point near the centre or middle of the bar 01,, whence it proceeds downwards, at a like inclination, in an opposite direction, to the point 8; At-onc end ofthe bar at, k, islattached the bent lever d, which is'pivoted to the piece 6' by the screw is, the other endof the lever d being attached to the sliding-tube A of the lamp A. To the top of the receiver or receptacle a is secured the rubber or elastic materiah-whieh maybesecu'red' in any desirable and convenient manner, so it shall be air-tight at the joint, the following perhaps being the best way to secure it: The groove or. channel a is cutarouud the upper edge of the receiver a, and the rubheror elastic material is cut lar'ge enough to cover the receiveran'd channel a. The bead s, which fits said channel. a, is then crowded down into the channel a, carrying with it the elastic material q, and the bead afits so tightly as to hold the elastic material firmly in place. Upon the .top of this elastic substance 9 rests-the plate 0, which is attached at o to the rod e, this rod e passingap through the guide it, (which is held firmly in place by tho braces mn 1' said rod a being attached at its upper end to the rod If at e. The rod .e has attached to it the pin t,- which passes through the double inclined slot is in the bar 11. Secui-ed to the cross-bar c is the pipe it, having the stop-cock i, said cock being'operated by the lever f','ono end of which passes into the stop-cock e, and is securedin by the set-screw i., .The entrance pipe h passes down into the pip e"h,.which communicates with the pipe 3', which may, by m'eans' of any suitable pipe connection, communicate with the stand and burner Bi The standard g is secured to the bar 0, and to the top of the standard g i pivoted the piecefl whieh can be moved upon its pivot in a horizontaldirection. In the receiver or receptacle a is made the aperture v','int'o which is secured the tube 7', having the tube 1' attached to it, and also the stop-cock p.' The piece a is attached to the base of the receiver a, to which said piece a is secured 'the lamp A having adouble tube, or single tube for a wick, over which is the'slidingt ube A, which can he moved in a vertical direction, and as it is moved upwards over the wiclr diminishes the flam'e. ,The jar F is made tight, and having thetwo conncctingtubes E H extending but a short distanccinto the jar F, while the tube G extends 'down into the jar nearly to its bottom, and also upwards, to any height rendered necessary bythe pressure of the gas passing through the jar F and wash-bottles L I.

Having thus described its construction, I will now proceed to describe its mode of operation. I have rcpre-. sentcd in the drawings the connecting pipe j, with the gas-burner B, the retort-D, its support 0,-the'washbottles L I, and jar F, in order that theoperation of the apparatus may be more fully understood. To put the apparatus into operation, the plate 0, being sufliciently heavy in practice to depress-the elastic material, is raised, and the piece f .is turned horizontally, so thit its and shall hold up the lever f' in a nearly ho rizon tal position, or so that the flame shall give its maximum amount of heat under the ratort D, andthe stop-cock p is setso as to allow the flow through it of the desired quantity of gas per hour. Nitrate of ammonia is placed in the retort D and the wick of the lamp A is lighted, and 'when a. sutlicicnt quantity of the gas is formedland flows through the outlet pipe 1 to cause the elastic material to rise, or to support the plate 0 and rod a, the pieccfis turned to one side so that thelevorf' is free to fall or inove in a vertical direction, both above and below the piece). As the apparatus is now set, a certain quantity of gas will be manufactured per' hour, say twenty gallons, andthe weight of the plate 0 remaining. the some, the size of the orifice in the stop-cock p controls the apparatus, so that no more than that quantity will be 'manui'acturcd, for if the heat under the retort is, suilicient togenerate a larger quantity, suchlarger quantity being free to enter the receiver a through the pipe r, a. greater quantity is collected in the receiver a, and as-only twenty gallons per' hour can escape throughthe stop-cock p as now set, the cover q of the recel-ver'a becomes distended, or rises, and raises the plate 0, the rod e, and, if the lamp A be used, the pin t moves upwards-in the slot u, which being inclined, the action of the pin against one side of said slotu moves thebar alto one side, and raises the end of'the lever d, which is attached to the sliding-tube-A', thus diminishing the flame and reducing the heat. Ii'a gas-burner is used to supply the heat under the retort, the raising of ,the rod e raises. the end e of the lerer f, and as the stop-cock z'is so I arranged that when the levcrf is nearly in a. horizontal position, as shown in fig. 1, the maximum amount of illuminating gasis permitted to pass down the pipe it into the pipej, the action of the lever f in being raised at the end c cuts oil the supply of gas to the burner B, and, ss the .heat is diminished by the supply of gas being cut oil, less gas is generated in the retort D. It a greater quantity of gas is needed, the stop-cock-p is opened slightly, so that a greater quantity can escape, the plate 0 falls, the lcverf assumes its nearly horizontal "position, and the supply of gas is increased; or if the lampA used, the pin t falls in the slot u to the apex,

or near the centre, moving the bar d to one side and causing thelong arm of the lever 41 to fall, and lowers the sliding-tube A of the lampAl, thus increasing the heat under the retort D and generating a. greater quantity ,of gas. If it is desirable, a weight or spring may be attached, or used in connection" with the plate a, to facili-.

tate the operation of the apparatus. If by any means-the apparatus should be left in operation for a length of time, so that the nitrate of ammonia should become somewhat exhausted in the retort and the gas should cease to generate, the plate a would depressthe elastic material q somewhat into the receiver a, and the action of the rod 0 in falling would extinguish the flame of the-lamp A, or cut oil the supply of gas to the burner B by thev stop-cock i. If the flame of the lamp A or the burner B shonld by any means, after being left, go out or become extinguished, the waterln the jar F -wouldnot'be drawn back into the retort D tofill the partial vacuum oeca sion'ed by the sudden condensation therein and burst-the retort, as is now oftentimes the case, but in any sudden cooling of the retort the air would pass down the tube G and u-p throughthe water into the-retort D.

v This arrangement may be applied t6 any form of gasometer now in use, its operation being satisfactory and perfect, if used as a regulator between the retort-and a gasometer, so that the gas, inpassing' from the retort to the'gasometer, shall pass through 'the receiver a or through thisregulatonu suitable connection beingmade between the pipe .or outlet 7' and the gasomcter into which the gas passes for final use; andany vessel might be used having-a piston fitting sufficiently tight, and moving sufliciently free to be'moved by the pressure ofthe v gas beneath, or the top q might be solid, the side of the receiver being made of somethin materiuhso as to act as a bellows, either of these devices being equivalent in their operation. A spring, 3/, is placedon the standard g, and the pin y is set in the'piccef, which holds said piecefin' position under the end of the leverf'. When the gas in the receiver raises the plate 0 and leverfl sufliciently high for thepin y" to pass under the end of the lever), the action of the spring 3 throws the piece f to one side, so that it no longer operates to support the and of the lever-f or check it in its downward movement.- This arrangement-attire springy and pin yis npplied soas to render it unnecessary to watch the apparatus when first set in operation.

It will thusb'e seen that my apparatus is wholly and entirely automatic ,inits operation, as the flow of gas through the. orifice of the stop-cock p in the pipe or outlet r entirely controls the amount'of heat used to generate said gas; is 'perfectly safe, as it may be started in its operation and left by itself; is-simple in its construction and operation, and may be made much cheaper than any apparatns now in use for that purpose.

I am aware that certain devices have been used for regulating the amount of heat-in generating nitrous oxide and other gases, as in certain Letters Patent granted to James M. Osgood, dated November 1, 1864, and numbered 44,884, and also in Letters Patent granted to A; W. Sprague, dated'Junc 12,1866, and numbered 55,548; but my invention diil'ers very materially from said devices, both in construction and operation, and disclaim any and every part of said devices, irrespective -ot' my construction and arrangement; but having described my invention, what I do claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,- is-- t 1.. Cdntrolling the amount of heetused in generating nitrous oxide or. other gases by means of-a regulating or changeable outlet. 11, applied to ages-receiver having a variable capacity, when used in combination with a.

device for regulating the flame beneath the generating retort,'substanti ally as described and herein-set forth;

2;, I claim the variable receiver a, having a'changeable outlet, 1), in combinationwith the rod e and the leverf', all constructed and operating substantially as described and for the pnrposes'hercin setsforth.

3. I claim the variable receiver a, having a changeable outlet, p, in combination with the rode, the bar J,

and lever d, 'all constructed and operating substantially as described and for the purpose specified.

4. I claim, in combination with the lever j, the springyund piece f,'bnving the pin"y, all constructed:

and operating substantially as described and for the purpose herein specified.

4 I .M. .B. RENSLOW.

Witnesses:

T. Avcunrrs,

SARAH Hours. 

